Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American 
singer-songwriter and musician, perhaps best known for his partnership
with Art Garfunkel in the duo Simon & Garfunkel. In 2006, Time 
magazine called him one of the 100 "people who shape our world."

In a career dating back to the 1950s, Paul Simon established himself 
among the best and most popular songwriters of the rock era. Growing 
up in Queens, NY, Simon befriended schoolmate Art Garfunkel, who had 
an angelic tenor voice, and the two teamed up as Tom & Jerry, taking 
the names of cartoon characters. In the winter of 1957-1958, they 
scored a chart hit with "Hey Schoolgirl" - both were 16 years old.

In 1962, Simon reached the charts briefly in the group Tico & the 
Triumphs with the song "Motorcycle," using the name Jerry Landis. 

In 1964, he and Garfunkel teamed up again as a folk duo in Greenwich 
Village, signed to Columbia Records, and released the album, Wednesday 
Morning. It flopped but Simon, who had been spending a lot of time in 
England, was picked up as a solo artist by CBS and recorded The Paul 
Simon Songbook, released only in Great Britain in the spring of 1965.

In the wake of the folk-rock trend prevalent that year, producer Tom 
Wilson took the acoustic track "The Sound of Silence" from the 
Wednesday Morning album, overdubbed electric guitar, bass, and drums 
and in 1965, a full year after the album was released, "The Sound of 
Silence was re-issued as a single. It took off and reached #1 on the 
record charts, establishing Simon & Garfunkel as a hit duo.

For the next five years, they were one of the most successful acts in 
pop music. Simon wrote the songs, and the two harmonized on a series 
of hit singles and albums. They split up in 1970, after the release of 
their most popular album, Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Simon returned to solo work and worked on the album, Paul Simon, 
released in January of 1972, which could not hope to match the success 
of Bridge Over Troubled Water, but which did sell a million copies and 
featured the reggae-tinged Top Ten single, "Mother and Child Reunion." 

There Goes Rhymin' Simon, issued in May of 1973, was another 
million-seller, containing the hits "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a 
Rock." 

After a 1974 live album, Simon released Still Crazy After All These 
Years in October 1975, which topped the charts, won the Grammy for 
Album of the Year, and included the number one hit "50 Ways to Leave 
Your Lover."

Simon took his time following this success, though he did release a 
greatest-hits album featuring a new hit, "Slip Slidin' Away." 

Over the next few years, Simon dabbled in various projects, including 
writing music for the film Shampoo (a project which was eventually 
scrapped) and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film 
Annie Hall). He wrote and starred in the film, One Trick Pony, the 
soundtrack, released in August 1980, contained the Top Ten hit, "Late 
in the Evening," and he appeared often on Saturday Night Live. 

Simon's next album Hearts and Bones, while critically acclaimed, did 
not yield any hit singles and marked a lull in his commercial 
popularity in the 1983. The album featured, "The Late Great Johnny 
Ace," a song partly about Johnny Ace, a U.S. rhythm and blues singer 
popular in the early 1950s, and partly about slain ex-Beatle John 
Lennon.

Simon experimented with songwriting styles and became interested in 
South African music, resulting in Graceland's release August 1986, 
which became his biggest-selling solo album and won him another Album 
of the Year Grammy. 

Four years later, he delivered The Rhythm of the Saints in October of 
1990, which did for Brazilian music what Graceland had done for South 
African music and was another multi-platinum seller. 

Simon played a free concert in Central Park in August 1991 (ten years 
after Simon & Garfunkel had done one) and released a live album from 
the show. In 1993, Warner Bros. released a box set retrospective on 
Simon's career, and he undertook a tour that featured Garfunkel on 
their old hits, as well as covering other aspects of his career. 

He spent the next several years writing a stage musical, The Capeman, 
and released his own version of its score as, Songs from the Capeman 
in November of 1997. The show, which starred Rubén Blades and Marc 
Anthony, opened on Broadway in early 1998 and was a quick failure. 

In 1999, Simon toured on a double bill with Bob Dylan. His next album, 
You're the One, was released in October 2000. It went gold and earned 
a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. 

Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a second time 
in 2000 for his achievements as a solo artist. (The first time was 
together with Art Garfunkel for their work as Simon and Garfunkel.)

In 2006 Simon released Surprise, a collection of new material 
featuring three songs written with Brian Eno. 

Simon is one of a small number of performers such as Paul McCartney, 
John Lennon, Johnny Rivers, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd (from 1975's Wish 
You Were Here onward), Queen, Genesis (though under the members' 
individual names and/or the pseudonym Gelring Limited) and Neil 
Diamond who have their name as the copyright owner on their recordings 
(most records have the recording company as the named owner of the 
recording).

Simon is also one of the practitioners of a creative and distinctive 
finger style guitar style in popular music. His instrumental 
proficiency (influenced by British guitarist Davey Graham) has always 
been highly underrated and practically invisible as a guitarist.

On March 1, 2007, Simon was announced as the recipient of the first 
annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which he 
received on May 23, 2007. The award recognizes the profound and 
positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Upon being 
notified of receiving this honor, Simon said, "I am grateful to be the 
recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I 
look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire 
at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed 
my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of 
that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true." Simon was 
also reunited with Art Garfunkel for the occasion, when they performed 
"Bridge over Troubled Water" and "Cecilia."

In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in his native New 
York City at the Beacon Theater, which had recently been renovated. 
Simon was reunited with Art Garfunkel at the first show Graceland 
bassist Bakithi Kumalo.

Personal life:
Simon has been married three times. His first marriage was to Peggy 
Harper; they were married in late autumn 1969. They had a son, Harper 
Simon, in 1972. They divorced in 1975. 

His second marriage was to actress and author Carrie Fisher to whom he 
proposed after a New York Yankees game. They were married on August 
16, 1983, but the marriage lasted only eleven months. 

He married folk singer Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992.

Philanthropy:
Simon is a proponent of music education for children. In 2003, he 
signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit 
organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons 
to children in public schools throughout the United States. He sits on 
the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

He is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Dr. 
Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's 
Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to 
take medical care to children in underserved areas, urban and rural. 
Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City 
but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has 
expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public 
schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's 
health and medical care.